| Body temperature and activity are important indicators for evaluating health and physiological status of livestock and they are significant to promote the efficiency of dairy farming.However,only activity information can be automatically collected,the automatic collecting method for body temperature still needs to be explored further.In this study,cow body temperature and activity automatic detection system was developed based on Zigbee wireless communication technology.The system consisted of data detection terminal,data acquisition and host computer system.Temperature was regularly detected and the activity was cumulative at real-time by data acquisition terminal;the temperature and activity data were sent to data acquisition and then the data was sent to the host computer system.After being analyzed and processed,the data were displayed to users,and the system can automatically report the heat detection result based on the results.Using this system,the surface temperature(ST)of the hind leg’s metatarsus was successively measured during 24 hours a day in three tested seasons with an interval of half an hour,and the rectal temperature(RT)was measured with an interval of two hours,meanwhile.Based on ST and RT,a linear mixed model was established,regarding both the time points and seasonal factors as the fixed effects.Statistical analysis showed that the differences of ST among three seasons or different time points were significant(P<0.05),and the differences of RT among different time points were also significant(P<0.05).The determination coefficient regarding time points and seasonal factors as fixed effects was 0.562.The prediction accuracy of the mixed model was verified by 10-fold cross validation.The average difference between measured RT and predicted RT was 0.10 ± 0.10 °C with the association coefficient of 0.644,indicating the feasibility of this model in measuring cattle body temperature.Therefore,an automated technology for accurate measuring cattle body temperature was accomplished by inventing an optimal device and establishing the system.To improve the oestrus detection efficiency,the activity and vaginal electrical resistance(VER)were detected during oestrus and ovulation of cattle,respectively.Results showed that the VER in dioestrus(300 ±12 Ω)was significantly higher than that in oestrus(P<0.05),and decreasing rapidly 4 h before the onset of oestrus and dropping to the lowest(220 ± 27 Ω)8~12 h after the onset of oestrus,and then recovering to the dioestrus level after ovulating.The activity in dioestrus was lower than that in oestrus,increasing 10 times rapidly after onset of oestrus,and then recovering to the dioestrus level after the end of oestrus.The oestrus duration,the time from onset of oestrus to ovulation and the time from the end of oestrus to ovulation were15.6 ± 2.8 h,26.8 ± 4.2 h and 11.3 ± 4.3 h,respectively.Until 15.0 h after arrival of the lowest VER,the cattle ovulated.The activity and vaginal temperature of experiment 2 varied synchronously in oestrus,and were significantly higher than that in dioestrus(P < 0.05).Activity and vaginal temperature increased to themaximum value(768.5 + 675.8 and 38.91 + 0.37 ℃)8.5 h and 6.5 h after onset of oestrus.The two parameters decreased gradually and returned to normal after the peak of oestrus.Activity average increased24.1 + 23.1 times,and vaginal temperature increased 0.69 + 0.21 ℃(up to 1.3 ℃).Oestrus duration and onset of oestrus to ovulation time of Simmental cattle were significantly shorter than that of crossbred cattle(P<0.05)based on the same parameters.The activity,VER and vaginal temperature variation during oestrus and ovulation were significant to explore the techniques of accurate oestrus detection and insemination.The efficiency of oestrus detection and the predicted accuracy of ovulation time can be improved when combining arbitrary two parameters,which will have significant value for developing the technology of automatic oestrus detection and prediction of ovulation. |
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